Modern anesthetics, equipment and techniques have avoided or greatly reduced the discomfort and pain formerly experienced by dental patients. Because of past associations or for other reasons, many patients continue to be apprehensive during dental operation. This creates problems for the dentist and dental technicians in addition to being stressful to the patient. Patient cooperation is needed for many procedures and is more easily obtained if the patient is in a relaxed, unapprehensive state of mind.
Thus, measures which tend to relax dental patients and to induce pleasurable reactions are highly desirable. In addition to facilitating the work of the dentist and technicians, patients are more likely to seek needed regular dental care if the experiences are remembered as pleasant ones.
Many dental procedures require insertion of a volume of fluid absorbent material into the patient's mouth. The material absorbs saliva flow and may also serve to hold tissue, such as the cheek or tongue, away from the tooth where operations are being performed. Such absorbers are variously referred to as dental rolls, cotton rolls, dental pads or sponges or by other terms depending on the composition and configuration of the absorber. It has not heretofore been recognized that such absorbers can be adapted to serve still another function. In particular, it has not been recognized that absorbers can contribute to relaxation of the patient and be used to induce pleasurable reactions during dental procedures.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.